The Mystery of Christian Life I. The Two Kinds of People II. The Two Kinds of Christians III. The Two Aspects of the Church IV. The Two sides of the Local Aspect I. The Two Kinds of People In the present age of grace, in the eyes of God there are only TWO kinds of people: The Believers and the Unbelievers. The ultimate destination of the unbelievers is the Lake of Fire, because John 3:18 says: (please read) “He who believes in Him is not judge; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” and Revelation 21:8 says: (please read) “But the fearful and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and fornicators and sorcerers and idolaters and all the false, their part shall be in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” But the way to receive salvation which is the eternal life is through believing in the name of the only begotten Son of God and confessing your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believing in your heart that God, raised Him up from among the dead; hence John 3:16 (please read) “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that everyone who believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” and Romans 10:9, 13 say: (please read) “That if you confess with your mouth, Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from among the dead, you shall be saved; For, who ever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” How about you calling “O, Lord Jesus!” three times. “O, Lord Jesus!” “O, Lord Jesus!” “O, Lord Jesus!” Now your are saved! Saved from the lake of fire! The next step is to testify that you are saved from the lake of fire through baptism. Wherefore the Lord Jesus says in Mark 16:16 (please read) “Truly, truly I say to you, unless a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” In this way you are already a Christian, a person with Christ within, Galatians 2:20c says: (please read) “…Christ lives in me;” Through baptism you are one who has put on Christ just as what is recorded in Galatians 3:27 (please read) “For as many as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” Now you have transferred unto God from the world which lies in the hand of Satan. Please read 1 John 5:19: “We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the evil one.” Praise the Lord Jesus! You are already a Christian. The ultimate destination of the Christian is the New Jerusalem, this is the holy city (Rev. 21:2a, 18b, 19a, 21a) which is constituted with gold, precious stones, and pearls. Please read the following: “And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem,” Rev. 21:2a “…and the city was pure gold, like pure glass.” Rev. 21:18b “And the building materials of its wall was jasper; and the city was pure gold…The foundation of the wall of the city were adorned with every precious stone…” Rev. 21:18a, 19a Jasper signifies the expression of God; and gold signifies the divine nature of God the Father, and precious stones signify the result of the transforming work of the Holy Spirit wrought in the Christians and pearl signifies the working of the essence of life of the Lord Jesus after He underwent death and resurrection. Pearl originates from a particle of sand that wounded the oyster, was gradually covered with the life-juice of the oyster until the pearl is formed. Likewise, you are the particle of sand that cause the death of the Lord Jesus and in His resurrection, He covers you with His essence of life that you may become pearl. Therefore, the ultimate destination of a Christian is the New Jerusalem, full of the reality and expression of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit – the Triune God. So you need to be transformed, to pay a price, that you can become the expression of God! WHEN? The best is NOW in the age of the church, so that you can receive a reward; if not, whether you like it or not, the Lord will transform you in the coming kingdom. Just like what He said in Matthew 5:26b: (please read) “You shall by no means come out from there until you have paid…” Because between the present age, the age of grace, which is the church age and the New Jerusalem, there is the millennial kingdom, the age of righteousness. back to top II. The Two Kinds of Christians The millennial kingdom will separate the TWO kinds of Christians: 1) The recipients of the reward, 2) The recipients of the dispensational discipline. The reward is (please read) to be Kings and to become priests -- Rev. 20:4, 6 to enter into joy of the Lord -- Matt. 25:21, 23 to rule over ten cities and five cities -- Luke 19:17, 19 Therefore , as a Christian, whether you are to receive the reward or the dispensational discipline, fully depends upon your work as a Christian in this age, just like what Paul said in Philippians 2:12: (please read) “So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only as in my presence, but now much rather in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;” In order to receive the reward, one should work according to the will of the Father, and the will of the father is the church, Ephesians 1:9, 22-23 say (please read) “Having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself.” “And He subjected all things under His feet, and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all.” back to top III. The Two Aspects of the Church This church has TWO aspects: 1. The universal aspect which was mentioned by the Lord Jesus in Matt. 16:18: (please read) “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” Universal, because it includes all the believers of the past and the present age whether in the Philippines or outside the Philippines; it is not limited by time nor space. Although the universal church is real yet this is not practical, because there is no way to fellowship with most of the brothers and sisters of the universal church since most of them are dead in their physical body until now, and quite a number of the living ones are far away from us, so our God who is very practical, shows us the practical aspect of the church which is 2. The local aspect, the church whom you can talk to; Matthew 18:17a says (please read) “But if he refuse to hear them, tell it to the church;” back to top IV. The Two Sides of the Local Aspect The local aspect has also TWO sides, the “plural” and the “singular” just like in Galatians 1:2b “…churches in Galatia” Acts 8:1b “…church in Jerusalem” Although both Galatia and Jerusalem are names of places, but because Jerusalem is a name of a locality, there is only one church in Jerusalem; whereas Galatia being a name of a province having many localities, hence there are many churches in Galatia. Now, in what locality are you residing? “_____________” isn’t it? That’s why you should belong to the church in “_______ ________”. Now that you are in the proper ground, the next step is to increase the “gold” (the divine nature of God) within you, and to be transformed into precious stone and pearl, in order to receive the reward in the millennial kingdom, hence you are reminded in Hebrews 10:25: (please read) “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the custom with some is , but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the day drawing near.” The church is the assembling of all those who are redeemed by the precious blood of our Lord Jesus; and this is the meeting. If there is no meeting, there is no practical expression of the church. The church, who is the body of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23), the house of God (1 Tim. 3:15), the golden lampstand (Rev. 1:20), God manifested in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:16) is expressed in the meeting. If there is no meeting, there is no expression, if there is a meeting then there is an expression of the church. Strictly speaking, if there is no meeting, then there is no church. This is the reason the Lord has strongly reminded us in the verse you have just read that you should not forsake the assembling together with the saints. And 1 Corinthians 3:9b says (please read) “You are God’s farm, God’s building.” Here in the church which is God’s farm, we, the plants, are made to grow. Here we are fertilized (Luke 13:8), watered, (1 Cor. 3:6), pruned (John 15:2) in order for us to grow until we are transformed to become jasper, gold, precious stones, and pearl as the materials in God’s building, then there will be no need of transformation in the millennial kingdom but just to receive the reward.
Posted on: Wed, 18 Sep 2013 17:33:28 +0000
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